Beth, Linda F.,questions about IM

We did The Listening Program before IM but with a different provider. It is an eight week program. The child listens to 20 (I think) minutes of altered music in the morning and the night. We did the morning about 10 minutes before he normally got out of bed (I went in with earphones and CD player) and the night before his story. About half way through the program, he became very agitated and couldn’t do it right before bed, which is what we intially had done. I understand this is normal.

We had done IM pretesting a year and a half before we actually did IM (he scored so poorly we did Neuronet therapy first, which improved his pretest scores considerably and helped him move through the program quickly). This was before doing TLP. I don’t recall him having trouble with the sounds of IM, even then. I guess what I am saying is that he didn’t have the same trouble so don’t know how TLP does with those issues. I will tell you that I am glad we did TLP—it made auditory processing easier.

All the providers here do IM three times a week. I think the original protocol was five times but few families can manage that.

Here most therapies run about $70/hour and IM was in line with that. We did our therapy with an audiologist and that is her standard rate for therapy. We live in a major metropolitan area. But we did our therapy in her office so I am sure it would have been more if she had come to our home.

We did not pay separately for the pretest (it was part of the package).

IM is a rather boring therapy so you want someone who will motivate your child. I had not thought of that but our therapist was good at it. I had picked her because she was an audiologist and my son has auditory processing problems. I thought I might be able to pick her brain as a side benefit (and I did). You might ask for references and ask about style and what she/he does to motivate the child.

Beth

My son doesn’t have apd. He did have some trouble with the extra sounds in the beginning but we were able to work around it. I think for him they were just a distraction until he got used to them.

We did 3 times a week some weeks and 4 or 5 times a week others. It varied based on her and our schedule.

I would be sure to ask about extra sessions as I was taken a little off guard with the fact that he needed 24 instead of the usual 16. It really should have been evident in the testing that he would need more because he scored at 250 with just his hands. His feet were even higher.

We are starting vision therapy now with a vt that does alot of balance and coordination work. I think it might have been better if we did this first because I think my son’s balance issues in particular were why he needed the extra sessions.

One thing that was interesting about the very thorough vision therapy eval we just did is that they said my son was above average in sequencing. Sequencing was one of his biggest problems before IM. I have to give IM credit for those gains. Also the other major gain was in attention.

We paid $100 per session and I believe our eval cost about $100 as well but I can’t remember for sure he may have been $150.
I would definitely consider the personality of the provider. I think that was a major factor in my son’s motivation and motivation is very important. My son clicked with her and really worked hard for her.
I would do it again in a heartbeat but not everyone seems to have gotten the same results.

We also did IM over the summer, paying $120 per session , which unfortunately is pretty standard for therapy in new york.

It was 28 sessions squeezed into 4 weeks. From what I recall, 3x per week is the minimum, and our therapist thought more often was better. Of course I can’t comment on whether that is true or not. It is boring and tedious so be prepared to keep him motivated.

We’ve seen improvements in self regulation, writing , and handstands. Not as much as we had hoped for a $ 4000 therapy, but you never know if other improvements we ‘ve seen since then are also a result of doing IM.

Good luck.

Linda brings up a good point. You need to look at the pretest scores. If they are really high, you may be better off doing some other OT like therapy first. My son scored off the chart the first time, which is why the IM therapist did not recommend doing IM at that time. After other therapy, he was much lower and successfully completed the program with low scores in the standard 15 sessions.

Beth

Have you had him evaluated by an occupational therapist for sensory integration? It sounds as if he may be hyper-sensitive to sound. Sensory integration disorder can manifest as either hypo- or hyper-sensitivity to sounds, textures, etc. SID is also often a by-product of APD. If he has SID, it would be best to take care of that problem before investing in IM.

I paid $175 for my son’s IM evaluation. I’m sure costs differ depending on where you live.

After testing I asked for a copy of his test results to keep in my file. I like having all the paperwork.

Even though we’re not doing IM at this time, I think the testing was worth it. I feel like I learned some good information about my son and it also helped give me some direction.

I think it’s particularly nice when you come accross a provider who can offer other therapies as well.

I paid $175 for my son’s IM evaluation. I’m sure costs differ depending on where you live.

After testing I asked for a copy of his test results to keep in my file. I like having all the paperwork.

Even though we’re not doing IM at this time, I think the testing was worth it. I feel like I learned some good information about my son and it also helped give me some direction.

I think it’s particularly nice when you come accross a provider who can offer other therapies as well.

I work with early intervention and I truly believe SID does exist but…I have a hard time visualizing what therapy would be like for an older child.

The OT I talked to about IM stated exactly what you said based on my son’s desrciption (not been tested yet)

The little ones are brushed and swung and put on balls to reach and touch the floor but do you do this with a lanky 11 yr old? Would this really be anymore than an older child gets from soccer or swimming?

Im not TRYING to be difficult-just having a hard time visualizing my son in what I remember from the therapy I saw at the EI agency I worked at. IM is more appealing only because I have no preconceived notion and somehow imagine it to be special and unique and more suited to my sons age-yet I know that is not realistic either.

Any examples of SI therapy for an older kid?

I think IM does address many SID problems. After all, it addresses motor planning. So I don’t think SID problem contraindicate IM—in fact I would consider SID problems an indication for IM. That said, I am sure my son did better at IM because we had addressed vestibularly based issues first. We did it through Neuronet not OT so I can’t tell you what it would look like with OT. I understand the feet are more connected to the vestibular system than the hands.

As far as sound sensitivity goes, I would either try sound therapy like The Listening Program or just see if the child can manage the sounds in IM. My son is sensitive to noise but seemed to be able to tolerate the IM cues.

I think you need to do the pretesting to get some indication of where your child is at.

Beth

We are doing SI therapy for my 10 year old daughter. She started when she was 8. 1x wkly with an OT. She LOVES it. They do more and more “age appropriate” exercises as they child gets old. It’s fun, obstacle courses, etc. My OT is WONDERFUL bc she knows my daughter so well. She lets her think she’s “taking charge” of the session and deciding what they are doing oftentimes, b/c it makes my child feel more in control. Of course, it may be harder to “start” at 11. Jami enjoys it and it’s normal to go. (What’s “normal” whatever you’ve always lived with until you find out, “Oh you mean everyone doesn’t go to OT?” :-).

If I can remember, I’ll mention it to my OT on Tuesday at our appt. and ask her what she thinks.

Honestly, all I know is that my evaluator said to get her to an SI therapist b/c her gaps between IQ and SS were so high. She didn’t tell me anything else. I went to the SI OT and she did an eval = $125.00.

Jami has hypersensitivity to light and sound, and motor planning issues . She is now high average for motor planning (after almost 2 years of 1x/wkly) when she wasn’t even “on the chart” before. (They didn’t think she would be able to drive a car when she started). Now they say she will, no problem.

All I know is that LMB and SI have worked wonders for my daughter! It doesn’t matter the avenue you take as long as you get the right result.

IM does a test of all the exercises before you start the program that gives you an idea of where your child is at.

I agree—it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you get there!!!

Beth

I think in addition to therapy, there are things you can do on your own to help.

Over the years (even as my son has gotten older), I’ve always encouraged him to play on playground equipment. For example, when I picked him up after school, I’d have him play an hour a day on the school’s playground equipment while we waited for his older sister to finish. I always felt this was therapeutic and social sometimes too (since occassionally other children would join him).

Also, I’d look for other occassions to take him to parks, sign him up for various sports, swim classes every day during the summer, ice skating, anything I could think of. Not with the idea he’d be “good at it.” But more with the idea that it would be “good for him.”

One more thing, the author of the book “The Out of Sync Child,” recently came out with a book that’s full of games and play that is therapeutic for kids with SID.

I think in addition to therapy, there are things you can do on your own to help.

Over the years (even as my son has gotten older), I’ve always encouraged him to play on playground equipment. For example, when I picked him up after school, I’d have him play an hour a day on the school’s playground equipment while we waited for his older sister to finish. I always felt this was therapeutic and social sometimes too (since occassionally other children would join him).

Also, I’d look for other occassions to take him to parks, sign him up for various sports, swim classes every day during the summer, ice skating, anything I could think of. Not with the idea he’d be “good at it.” But more with the idea that it would be “good for him.”

One more thing, the author of the book “The Out of Sync Child,” recently came out with a book that’s full of games and play that is therapeutic for kids with SID.